2008 Pistons Trade Rumors

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Dumars still open to trades

by A. Sherrod Blakely
Friday December 07, 2007, 12:24 AM

AUBURN HILLS -- Coming into tonight's game against the Chicago Bulls with a five-game winning streak, the Detroit Pistons have given president of basketball operations Joe Dumars little to complain about.

Even with the Pistons playing their best basketball of the season, Dumars isn't blinded by the team's success.

That's why he plans to stay open to the idea of making a trade or two before February's trading deadline.

"Absolutely," Dumars said earlier this week. "Absolutely, if you're me absolutely. There's never a time you should stop evaluating how can we get better. That you shut the door that you would do something to make your team better ... never!"

Not even a five or six-game winning streak?

"Never!" Dumars reiterated. "You can't allow a four- or five- or six-game win streak stop you from looking at your team and say, 'we can get better if we make this move here.' I'll never close that door."

While the goal with trades is usually to add talent that can help immediately, Dumars also factors in how a trade will impact the franchise down the road.

That was among the many reasons he was reluctant to put together a trade package to acquire Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who had asked to be traded before the season starting. Several teams including Detroit spoke with the Lakers before the season began to see what their asking price was for Bryant.

Multiple league sources told Booth Newspapers last month that during those conversations, the Lakers were asking for Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, a choice between Jason Maxiell or Rodney Stuckey, and a pair of first-round picks. And the Lakers were apparently wanting the draft picks to be sent after Bryant's contract expired, which in all likelihood would have made them lottery (top-14) picks.

The Pistons didn't pursue the matter anymore, but that hasn't stopped Dumars from keeping all options open.

"You never know who becomes available, and when," Dumars said. "We had wanted Rasheed Wallace for a long time before we got him (in 2004), but the timing wasn't right. When it was, we did what we had to do to make it happen."

That mindset isn't any different now, even as Detroit (13-5) finds itself two games off the pace set by the 2005-2006 club which won a franchise-record 64 regular season games.

"You have to take good rolls when they come," Dumars said. "Right now, our guys are playing well, playing unselfish. The distribution of minutes has allowed us to keep that in perspective as well. All of it has come together a little bit for us right now. I know it's early it's a long season. But you don't ever turn your back on a good stretch of basketball."

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/spor..._build_on.html

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Before Billy King's tenure suddenly ended Monday, he had been in touch with, among other teams, Miami and Detroit, about possible deals. "I'm going to pursue things with all 29 teams," Ed Stefanski said. "I've also gotten a lot of congratulatory calls, and then the next step is, they ask about [possibilities]. But that goes on all the time." That works for Comcast-Spectacor chief operating officer Peter Luukko, who said, "We're letting Eddie go for it. We're giving him free rein"

Maybe we would be looking at andre as our backup 1 for a serious run at the ship this year. or maybe we could roll with something like andre, billups, tay, dice,sheed with rip off the bench? I think getting Samuel Dalembert would cost alot so joe wouldn't be pursuing him.

I think Nazr to the cats is a real possibility though.

Andre Iguodala? No way were we getting him from the 6ers. He's there best player by far and it would take one of our starters to get him.

Nevermind, forgot they had Andre Miller. I'm assuming you meant him.

:mccosky:

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On another topic, you might be wondering what's going to happen to Flip Murray now that Stuckey is back. Well, first off, be patient. The Pistons are going to want to give Stuckey some time to get back into the flow of things and to see if the hand holds up under contact before they do anything. But the writing is clearly on the wall for Murray. I expect the Pistons to try to move him. In the best case scenario, they would get a draft pick or two for him. They don't want to take back another player (which means taking back another salary).

There are a lot of offensively-challenged teams out there. I have to believe there is a market for Murray. Until recently, Murray had played his role well. He provided some offensive fire when the Pistons got stagnant. Through all his ups and downs here, he has remained very professional. He got himself into good shape this year. He's been the first guy in the gym before every game, going through his regimen. He's been upbeat and even gregarious at times this season. He can help a team, just not this team -- something he had to know deep down last June when the Pistons drafted guards Afflalo and Stuckey in the first round. "He's been unbelievable," Saunders said.

Shocking...

That whole, he can help a team just not this team, thing is pretty much right on. On a team that's just trying to get by where he can kind of take over every now and then he'd be great. But on a team going for a championship, he can't really be that take-over guy so he doesn't fit very well.

:mccosky:

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Again, to reiterate, the only way the Pistons consider bringing Webber back is if they clear a roster spot. I assume that means unloading Flip Murray and-or Primoz Brezec. Joe Dumars has been trying for weeks to find a taker for Murray. So far, nothing.

i believe webber is pretty likely to join up with LA. specially with AB going down.

Ron Artest wouldn't mind a trade to Detroit...but I'm sure as hell the fans would